Monday, June 08, 2009

Thank you to everyone who has entered my give away for the two address files (previous post). I've been sick the past several days, so I will be selecting the winners once I feel better - hopefully in the next day or two.

I am sick at home today, Adelaide is off with her auntie who is here visiting us from Toronto, and our house is so quiet and still. I don't feel well enough to do much, but I thought that I'd take this opportunity to snap some photos of some of the shelving around our house and share them with you.

Our house is fairly small - about 1,100 sf. - and since I spend the vast majority of my time here it has become really important to me to have it set up and organised. This was a long time coming - I was never a neat or tidy person! But I learned pretty quick when I became a mama, that if I'm going to be spending a lot of time at home, it's important to have a home that I feel good and want to be in. I truly would have lost my mind by now if I didn't!

So long ago I set out on a mission to train (and force) myself and begin to get rid of clutter and have a place for everything to belong. I'm still slowly working on this - but being organised really makes all of the difference in the world.

The shelves in our living room which hold several items, but mostly books, magazines, and my vintage world globes, which I've collected for years. We had two large Ikea Expedit shelves and made them into an "L" shape with one sticking out from the wall, to make a nice reading and movie watching spot, filled with lots of blankets and pillows. This is probably one of the coziest spots in our house, and I have visions of lots of board game playing happening here when Addie gets a bit older.

Here is a bit of the shelf that sticks out from the wall, where I keep most of my paperback novels. I have always loved to read and I keep a look out for goodbooks at thrift shops and used book shops. Although I try to pass on many of the books I've read, I can't bear to be rid of them all. I think they look so nice all together, even on the backside of the shelf. I also hope that by having a lot of books around, Adelaide will learn to love books, too. So far, this is working well!

Beyond this shelf you can see a little into the dining area of our house (which is mostly a play area for Addie), and the front entranceway to our house.

Here is Adelaide's play shelf and area. I was inspired by the shelves in this photograph, and it reminded me of and that it would work perfectly in our house as well. This solution works perfectly to utilize a space that normally wouldn't be that functional. It creates a low, convenient storage space for Adelaide's toys and books without taking up a lot of room. (and gives our kitties a great place to sit and look out the window)

To make it, Charles and I went to Ikea with our window measurements and checked out every possible shelf that might work. We finally found this ODDA cabinet which was the perfect size, and simply modified it by removing the back and front sliding doors. (Although I also thought it would be fantastic to cover the back red piece with some lovely vintage wallpaper or fabric, too).

I also picked up a simple white rug at Ikea as well, for Adelaide's "play rug". She loves her play rug and I've found that it is a nice way to encourage her to keep her toys in one spot rather than all over.

Here is the girls' closet, which was formerly my sewing closet before we switched rooms all around. Adelaide and I share this closet together which I found works great as we mostly get dressed at the same time. After moving the rooms, I was unsure what to do about this closet, as the top shelves took over the area where the rod would normally hang, but I decided to keep them in place and simply add a rod beneath them. This has worked out well as Adelaide can almost reach her own clothes and will soon be able to take care of selecting and hanging up her own items of clothing.

Because this room is tiny and only has room for one small dresser which is Adelaide's, I bought the white baskets which fit the white shelves well, and they are filled with my socks, underwear, t-shirts, etc. The other wicker baskets are filled with itmes like old photographs, Adelaide's lotions and potions, and a "sick" basket filled with thermometers, cough drops, etc, which is so handy to have ready all in one place.

Finally, here is my computer desk space in the closets which were formally our master bedroom. Once again I decided to make the closet into another place to work, and removed all of the bi-fold doors and standard clothes racks and rails. I hung up some vintage wallpaper to the back wall by simply thumb tacking it up - you can't notice, and I didn't have to deal with glues and rollers! My dad then helped me to hang the white Ikea shelves for storage, and I measured the space and at a hardware store had them cut me a desktop to size. I used some Ikea table legs to form the desk, and covered it with some heavy kraft paper which can easily be replaced when it gets mucky. This is the perfect spot for my computer to be!

The other side of the closet is filled with more work supplies which I don't use as often, and also acts as a linen closet, with blankets, towels, sheets and laundry soap, etc. Because of this I decided to hang a inexpensive bamboo blind which I can open up easily when it needs to be, but cuts the visual clutter nicely when down.

It is funny to me, the things that I do not notice until they are captured in a photograph - such as Jack's little white mouse in the bottom right hand corner, which I guess that he tossed up on the desk while I was taking these photographs: Come on, play with me, mom!

Oh wow ! you house is sooooooo clean and I'm impressed how everything is well aranged ! my home is a mess ! yours is soooooooooooo beautiful ! I wish I could have your courgae to keep it like that all the time !

Sharilyn, I will be sure to send up some of my sunny weather from Florida to help you get feeling better! Thank You SO much for posting the photos of your home! They are so inspiring! I can't wait to show my husband, he loved the shots of your studio and I know he will love the rest of your fantastic ideas! Looks like I will be in for some home renovations and a run trip to ikea! Thank You!

looks amazing, I am still in shock that Charles goes to IKEA... I have to drag Ben there and once where there he just goes upstairs and drinks cheap beers.Love DawnP.S Apple Cider Vingear one cap full in water in the morning. Keeps us feeling great.

thanks so much for sharing these photos of you house sharilyn! they're absolutely beautiful and so inspiring. i especially love the reading corner! my house is small too, and i hope one day it'll be as nicely organized and lovely as yours!

I love this! Scarily enough, I have similarly blue hued walls and a white Expedit in my new living area, which divides my craftiness from the rest of the living room. I swear I'm not stalking you. We have our globe collection in the non-working fireplace, but I love how they look atop the Expedit... I think the bird would try to nibble them too much up there, though (it's his favorite hang out spot when he's not in his cage).

Thanks so much for sharing and inspiring me to finish unpacking and organizing!

so beautiful, cozy and peaceful, yet fully lived in! how i wish i could become more of a homebody and finally get my apartment in order (especially since baby #2) is on the way! but working full time and then chasing after a toddler = no time and energy for organizing? *sigh* maybe during my maternity leave? haha.

One of my major goals is to find a calm way to live in our house and enjoy it every day. Your pictures really help. I'm mostly at home and I need to constantly remind myself that I'm worth the effort of finding a better way to live.

I love that play shelf by the big window, and the cut desk top idea for your computer. We just put a play rug in our basement and it's true...toys tend to stay within the borders!

how in the world do you keep little one from climbing on the shelves? just yesterday my husband and i hung three shelves and wouldn't you know our 3 year old girl wanted something off the top shelf (i think i had place maybe two things on the shelves altogether) and she started clambering up the wall to get it - she only got far enought to pull the first shelf off of the wall. affectionately - we call her our monkey ;-) we left the bottom shelf off the wall, fixed the three large holes that were created, and made sure the next two up were well out of her reach!!!!

Thank you everyone, for visiting me and for your comments, they are so very lovely to receive!

Our house is not always perfect, but I have found that the best ways to keep our place nice and tidy, and quick and easy to clean up are 1) cut clutter 2) everything has a place to belong. It took me years to do these things, and am still working on it, but I can't believe the difference it has made in our lives!

The paint colours are actually all different blues via Benjamin Moore. The living room is Gaussian Blue, the workroom is Yarmouth Blue, and the bedroom is a custom colour I had made up, and you are welcome to use. It is: Benjamin Moore ECCspec Pastel Base 223-1BOY ox 4.0000BK Ox 9.0000TG Ox 12.7500

Nikki: I know, I LOVE plan toys, too! I acutally buy them mostly for me, but I let Addie play sometimes too.

Dawn Quast, oh my god thank you for that. Bonus Points for Charles. Although, I'm sure part of the reason he will go to ikea with me is the cheap hotdogs. But we only will go on weeknights - Weekends are too crazy!

Liz - whoa! I've never had a problem (YET with Addie climbing up on the shelves. Knock on wood. She does, however, like to stand up on the "play" shelf and look out the window. Thank goodness my dad put it up so it can take some great weight!

hi, we really adore your living ideas, if you don't mind, we appreciate you can share on our website (it's all for free) www.decomyplace.com we trying to share everyone's living idea, and help more people to improve their living space. we appreciate any support from you. and sorry if we made any uncomfortableness to you, have a good day.

M E

Hello! My name is Sharilyn, and together I live with my guy and our sweet girl + baby boy in a hundred-and-two-year-old cottage on the east side of Vancouver, Canada.

Long ago, I began a my own little company called lovelydesign. After many years (with a little luck and a lot of work) my own creations enabled me to make a small living doing what I love to do. But these days I am both a full-time mama and maker, and so I am creating my goods only infrequently.

I keep this blog as a record of all sorts of things which I'd like to try to keep with me for always.